What happens when we approach archaeology from the perspective of an interest in visualities? Does it make sense to talk about an archaeological aesthetic? What part has a specifically archaeological concern with material cultures, objectified bodies and sites on the landscape played in a local history of looking? Drawing from the archive of the South African archaeologist John Goodwin (1990–1959), this book interrogates the role of photography in the making of a disciplinary project in archaeology.

The Author

Nick Shepherd is Associate Professor of Archaeology and African Studies at the University of Cape Town, where he convenes a graduate programme on Public Culture and Heritage. He has been a Mandela Fellow at HarvardUniversity, and a Visiting Professor at BrownUniversity and at the University of Basel. From 2004-2012 he was the editor of the journal Archaeologies: Journal of the World Archaeology Congress.

Extras

Reviews, News & Interviews:

The Mirror in the Ground offers us a fresh way of looking at the photographic archive, with a commentary as moving and compassionate as it is unsettling.